Pre Pre-Season Game 1

Calendar September 15, 2009 | Posted by Leslie Treff

The active roster for tonight’s pre-season game at MSG was announced late yesterday afternoon. I had to drive up north yesterday before Torts made his decisions, so thanks to Andrew Gross for passing this on:

F: Ales Kotalik, Christopher Higgins, Brian Boyle, Chris Drury, Ryan Callahan, Dane Byers, P.A. Parenteau, Artem Anisimov, Evgeny Grachev, Enver Lisin, Matt Maccarone, Donald Brashear.

D: Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Alexei Semenov, Mike Sauer, Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy

G: Matt Zaba, Steve Valiquette

I find the lineup interesting, as only two forwards, two blueliners, and one backup netminder from last year’s squad are active tonight. The Rangers management will, instead, get a good look at several of the guys competing for spots this Fall to see how they do on the ice with the regulars.

Management also rewarded some of yesterday’s best scrimmage performers with ice time tonight. Grachev, Maccarone, and Del Zotto scored goals, and Lisin and Gilroy skated well, yesterday.

We will get a better view of Gilroy’s defensive strengths and weaknesses tonight. I agree that this is a top priority, as Gilroy’s adjustment (good or bad) will have a big affect on the complexion of the team this year. Torts was very glad that he jumped into the play so often yesterday at scrimmage, but play can cost a team in the regular season. We will get to see more tonight and over the next two weeks how this plays out.

Other players to watch tonight are Parenteau and Anisimov. Parenteau did not really stand out yesterday and Anisimov was not very good. Parenteau needs to step up his play to gain one of the two forward spots that may be open on the NHL roster. In a different place, Anisimov should have one of the center spots, but its his to lose if he does not play well. Hopefully, that won’t happen, but there are a lot of contingencies on this team, which is what makes this pre-season very interesting.

Trade rumors still abound, but as far as I know, none of the players active for tonight’s game are in the mix.

More later after the game. Watch for Tweets between now and then.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Pre Pre-Season Game 1”

  1. bob says:
    September 15, 2009 at 8:35 pm

    Brashear, Byers, Del Zotto, Staal, and the Russian line are playing really well.

    Gilroy is ok, but not really blowing me away. And he is not very physical. I rather the spot go to Sanguinetti or Del Zotto.

    Higgins looks not bad.

    Drury looks bad, Kotalik is also not very impressive.

    Callahan can’t stop taking slapshots from bad angles. Will Any coach ever point out to him that he should look for a pass or a better angle?

    Parenteau does not belong in NHL.

  2. Leslie Treff says:
    September 15, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    Strong opinions there, Bob. I will give my recap later this evening.

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